Book Review: Yellow Sky Revolt by Baptiste Pinson Wu
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OFFICIAL AUTHOR BIO: Baptiste Pinson Wu is all about rich, authentic, and action-packed historical fiction. In his first series, the Three Kingdoms Chronicles, he uses his passion for ancient History and his experience living in Asia to bring you a retelling of China’s most famous civil war. When not writing, Baptiste creates content for two video channels, “Yunique France”, and “Back In Time Fiction”, the channel dedicated to the very best genre of literature.
OFFICIAL BOOK BLURB: China, 184 CE.
An empire will shatter.
Dark clouds loom over the Han dynasty. The Yellow Turbans, simple folks turned rebels, threaten the power in place with their sheer numbers and burning anger. Among them, Liao Hua, a young peasant boy, becomes the symbol of the uprising’s vengeful spirit.
But what should have been a short revolt turns into a bloody war for survival. As untrained farmers face the full might of the empire, Liao Hua forges himself a will of iron and vows to do whatever it takes to become the greatest warrior of his time. However, when his path crosses that of the bearded warrior, he understands ambition won’t be enough to come out on top.
An age of chaos is beginning. Men will fall, warlords rise, and warriors clash, but only the strongest will leave their names to be praised for the centuries.
An empire will shatter.
Dark clouds loom over the Han dynasty. The Yellow Turbans, simple folks turned rebels, threaten the power in place with their sheer numbers and burning anger. Among them, Liao Hua, a young peasant boy, becomes the symbol of the uprising’s vengeful spirit.
But what should have been a short revolt turns into a bloody war for survival. As untrained farmers face the full might of the empire, Liao Hua forges himself a will of iron and vows to do whatever it takes to become the greatest warrior of his time. However, when his path crosses that of the bearded warrior, he understands ambition won’t be enough to come out on top.
An age of chaos is beginning. Men will fall, warlords rise, and warriors clash, but only the strongest will leave their names to be praised for the centuries.
FORMAT/INFO: Yellow Sky Revolt is the first book in the Three Kingdoms Chronicles. It was published on October 18, 2022 and contains 283 pages.
OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Yellow Sky Revolt is an immersive historical fiction that shows the consequences of the Yellow Turbans uprising during the Han Dynasty in China. Told by who was at the time a young child, we see how his journey of no return, began. The now old man, Liao Hua, describes all that happened since he, his father and little sister left their farm to fight for what they thought was a better future. As we follow Liao in a journey through his time as a Yellow Turban, we meet extraordinary men who touched Liao's life, and so many that shaped it. All of these men that, for this young child, who saw his own father as a coward, were his chosen better examples of a men's figure to follow but most importantly, his very first teachers. Liao is a great character to follow. Throughout the book we see him overcome pretty nasty odds, face many challenges, lose and make friends and heroes. Liao is a very smart, cunning but especially resourceful character and because of this, he attracts the attention of powerful men, sometimes for better, sometimes for worse.
The character work is wonderful. Not only in our protagonist but also in the secondary characters. Every single one of the characters is so flawed and relatable. As the story is told in past tense, we are very aware that we are getting information that sometimes (most of the time) not even the protagonists had.
The writing is amazing. The battle sequences, spectacular. You can see the care the author put there to make them as realistic as possible. Realistic not only in the historical sense but also in the first hand experience of them.
This story seems to take the classic "history is always written by the victors" and "the hero's journey ", mix and turn them over their head as Liao is the last survivor of the losing side. And he's the narrator. Or at least that's how things are in book one.
The character work is wonderful. Not only in our protagonist but also in the secondary characters. Every single one of the characters is so flawed and relatable. As the story is told in past tense, we are very aware that we are getting information that sometimes (most of the time) not even the protagonists had.
The writing is amazing. The battle sequences, spectacular. You can see the care the author put there to make them as realistic as possible. Realistic not only in the historical sense but also in the first hand experience of them.
This story seems to take the classic "history is always written by the victors" and "the hero's journey ", mix and turn them over their head as Liao is the last survivor of the losing side. And he's the narrator. Or at least that's how things are in book one.
CONCLUSION: Yellow Sky Revolt is a very compelling historical fiction that puts you at the forefront and center of the Yellow Turbans uprising in China during the Han Dynasty, and does not shy away from the consequences of it, showing them in the most realistic way possible.
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